OET interlinear HEB 12:18

uW Translation Notes:

In 12:18–21, the author refers to what happened when the Israelites left Egypt and arrived a mountain named Sinai. God came down to this mountain to create a covenant with the Israelites, and Moses met him on the mountain and received God’s commands and promises. When God came to the mountain, there were loud sounds, fire, and dark clouds, and God commanded that nobody should go up the mountain except for Moses and Aaron. The Israelites were afraid and asked Moses to speak to God for them. You can read about this story in Exodus 19:9–20:21 and Deuteronomy 4:9–5:31. You might want to include this information in a footnote.

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result

γὰρ

for

Here, the word For introduces a further reason (which is found in 12:18–24) for why the audience should do what the author has encouraged them to do in 12:14–17. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a word or phrase that introduces a reason for exhortations or commands, or you could leave For untranslated. Alternate translation: “You should do all those things, because”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

οὐ & προσεληλύθατε, ψηλαφωμένῳ

not & ˱you_all˲_/have/_approached /being/_touched

Here the author assumes that his audience knows that what can be touched is the mountain named Sinai that the Israelites did come to after they left the land of Egypt. If your readers would not make these inferences, you could make the ideas more explicit. Alternate translation: “you have not come, as the Israelites did, to a mountain that can be touched”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

ψηλαφωμένῳ

/being/_touched

If your language does not use the passive form in this way, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. The author uses the passive form here to emphasize that the mountain is something that people can touch. If you must state who did the action, you could use an indefinite subject. Alternate translation: “what humans can touch” or “what is touchable”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

ψηλαφωμένῳ

/being/_touched

The author is referring to physical things by association with the way those things can be touched. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use an equivalent expression or express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “physical things”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / infostructure

καὶ κεκαυμένῳ πυρὶ

and /having_been/_burned ˱with˲_fire

Here, the word blazing could: (1) modify fire. Alternate translation: “and to a fire that blazes” (2) be parallel with what can be touched. Alternate translation: “and is burning, to fire” or “and is blazing with fire”

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / doublet

γνόφῳ, καὶ ζόφῳ

˱to˲_darkness and ˱to˲_darkness

Here, the words darkness and gloom function together to refer to how “dark” it was when they came to the mountain. It is possible that darkness refers to shadows, while gloom refers to when the sun sets. If you do not have two words for these categories, you could use a single word or phrase to refer to deep darkness. Alternate translation: “to gloomy darkness” or “to intense gloom”